Rogers Cup 2015: Monday Tennis Scores, Results and Updated Draw Schedule
One of the final stops on the road to the 2015 U.S. Open got underway north of the border with first-round play at the Rogers Cup in Montreal and Toronto.
Montreal hosts this year's men's tournament, while the top stars in women's tennis headed to Toronto. Between both singles draws, many of the biggest names in the sport are competing, giving tennis fans what should be a busy week of action.
Here's a look at the full results from Monday's first round and what's on the schedule for Tuesday.
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Rogers Cup—Monday Results
| First Round | Sabine Lisicki | Venus Williams (14) | 6-0, 6-3 |
| First Round | Flavia Pennetta | Gabriela Dabrowski | 6-4, 6-1 |
| First Round | Gilles Simon (9) | Andreas Seppi | 6-2, 6-4 |
| First Round | Gael Monfils (15) | Fabio Fognini | 6-3, 6-1 |
| First Round | Thomaz Bellucci | Pablo Cuevas | 7-6(4), 4-6, 7-6(4) |
| First Round | Ivo Karlovic | Jerzy Janowicz | 6-4, 7-6(6) |
| First Round | Leonardo Mayer | Hyeon Chung | 6-3, 6-4 |
| First Round | Gilles Muller | Philip Bester | 6-2, 6-3 |
| First Round | Sam Querrey | Martin Klizan | 6-3, 6-3 |
| First Round | Tommy Robredo | Feliciano Lopez | 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 |
| First Round | Sergiy Stakhovsky | Filip Peliwo | 6-1, 5-7, 6-2 |
| First Round | Bernard Tomic | Joao Sousa | 6-3, 6-3 |
| First Round | Donald Young | Denis Kudla | 6-3, 6-4 |
Rogers Cup—Tuesday Schedule
| Centre Court | |
| Jelena Jankovic vs. Caroline Garcia | 11 a.m. ET |
| Victoria Azarenka vs. Elina Svitolina | Not Before 1 p.m. ET |
| Serena Williams (1) vs. Flavia Pennetta | ---- |
| Eugenie Bouchard vs. Belinda Bencic | Not Before 7 p.m. ET |
| Sloane Stephens vs. Dominika Cibulkova | ---- |
| Grandstand | |
| Roberta Vinci vs. Karin Knapp | 11 a.m. ET |
| Alize Cornet vs. Carla Suarez Navarro (9) *Suspended* | ---- |
| Sara Errani (15) vs. Kristina Mladenovic *Suspended* | ---- |
| Madison Brengle vs. Carol Zhao | ---- |
| Francoise Abanda vs. Andrea Petkovic (16) *Suspended* | Not Before 6 p.m. ET |
| Irina Falconi vs. Heather Watson | ---- |
| Court Central | |
| Nick Kyrgios vs. Fernando Verdasco | 12:30 p.m. ET |
| Borna Coric vs. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (10) *Suspended* | ---- |
| Novak Djokovic (1) vs. Thomaz Bellucci | Not Before 2:30 p.m. ET |
| Ivo Karlovic vs. Milos Raonic (8) | Not Before 6:30 p.m. ET |
| Tommy Robredo vs. Andy Murray (2) | ---- |
| Banque Nationale | |
| Alexandr Dolgopolov vs. Grigor Dimitrov (14) | 12:30 p.m. ET |
| Richard Gasquet (11) vs. Jeremy Chardy | ---- |
| Vasek Pospisil vs. Yen-Hsun Lu | ---- |
| Ernests Gulbis vs. Dominic Thiem | Not Before 6:30 p.m. |
Monday Recap
Unfortunately for the women's tournament, this was the scene in Toronto for much of Monday, per the WTA:
Rain showers delayed play quite a bit, with just two first-round matches reaching completion. Sabine Lisicki upset 14th-seeded Venus Williams, 6-0, 6-3, while Flavia Pennetta swept aside wild card Gabriela Dabrowski in straight sets, 6-4, 6-1.
Lisicki can be a dangerous player when her head is right and she's on top of her game. Williams, last year's runner-up, found that out the hard way.
The 25-year-old German absolutely teed off on Williams' second serve. The seven-time major champion won just five of her 24 second-service points. Meanwhile, Lisicki picked up five aces and allowed just two break-point opportunities throughout the entire match.
The start of the match was delayed about three hours, which might have had an adverse effect on Williams. Of course, it certainly didn't seem to affect Lisicki.
"It's always tough after a rain delay like that. You don't know if you're ever going to get on the court," she said after the win, per WTATennis.com. "It was also such a tough match-up against Venus. It's always a pleasure to play her because you know you have to play well to beat her, so I'm happy with my performance today."
Lisicki will play the winner of Barbora Strycova vs. Varvara Lepchenko in the next round.
Over on the men's side, things went a little more smoothly, as Mother Nature spared Montreal the buckets of rain it saved for Toronto.
Gael Monfils and Gilles Simon were the only seeded players to take the court Monday, with both advancing in straight sets.
The score in Monfils' 6-3, 6-1 win looks a little deceiving, as the 28-year-old wasn't at his best. He served very well, winning 71 percent of his service points, but there was no question his opponent, Fabio Fognini, was hampered by injury.
At least Fognini kept his sense of humor despite fighting a losing battle late in the match, per Live Tennis:
"A team of medical professionals rush on to see how Fognini is feeling. 'Look at the scoreboard,' he answers. pic.twitter.com/Mtmls4ZSKe
— Live Tennis (@livetennis) August 11, 2015"
Fognini's compatriot Andreas Seppi didn't fare much better against Simon. Sky Sports Tennis posted the final stats of the match:
You can really chalk up Simon's win to him having 12 fewer unforced errors than Seppi and winning both of his break-point opportunities. Sometimes the margin between a victory and a straight-set defeat can be that small.
Looking ahead to Tuesday, top-seeded Serena Williams will take on Pennetta, while both of the men's top two seeds, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray, will make their first appearances at the Rogers Cup this year.
The U.S. Open begins Aug. 31, so you can bet the best players in the world will want to build a lot of momentum this week in Canada.
Note: You can view the full schedule for Tuesday's play at RogersCup.com for the women's tournament and CoupeRogers.com for the men's tournament.
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